The whole thing takes a few minutes. Rybakina finishes on an ace. Sabalenka throws her racket down, breaks it, says « f*ck off » and waves the cameras away. Then the podium is wheeled out, a microphone is switched on, and it is handed to her.
What she did with it: « The last thing I want to do right now is give a speech, but I’ll do my best. I want to congratulate Elena on a fantastic year. Her win here is deserved. Celebrate tonight, tomorrow and for the rest of the season, so that next year I can win titles. Thank you. » (Quoted in Dutch by HLN.)
Silly question, but: who decided that the person who has just lost a final gets handed a microphone in front of a full stadium? I asked around. I’m told it’s tradition, fine, but what does that mean? In football, after a lost final, somebody puts a jacket over your shoulders and leaves you alone. Here we ask you to speak, and to thank people while you’re at it.
Maxime also looked at the stands. Among the spectators at the women’s final were Brad Pitt, Paris Hilton, Jutta Leerdam, Jake Paul, Pink and the former Brazil footballer Ronaldo. The match itself lasted two hours and 21 minutes.
And it works, that’s the part I can’t get over. She thanked people one by one, she said she had hoped to do better, she got to the end of it while fighting back tears. I checked who wrote that rule: actually nobody. It has just always been that way. Anyway, I still have a lot to learn.
Rybakina returned the compliment: « Aryna, you’re an amazing champion. It’s so hard to play against you. You push to the limit. » She added that she had been coming to New York for ten years without ever getting anywhere close.
Sabalenka was the two-time defending champion and was going for a third straight title at Flushing Meadows. She had been world No.1 since 21 October 2024. The seat now goes to Rybakina, who holds three of the four Grand Slam titles, with only Roland-Garros missing.
It’s true, we checked: HLN.
